In many cases, the precise location of a vehicle can be determined using a combination of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). Images taken from a vehicle using such location systems may be registered to a location using the positioning measurements provided by the GPS and IMU.
However, signal distortions in urban canyons, mechanical tolerances, wear, etc. may cause the reported location of one or more image sensors to be different from the actual location of the sensor in an unpredictable manner.
An example of such a mismatch is illustrated in FIG. 1, that shows a prior art result of an attempt to align building image data (e.g. photographic data) 50 with an existing three dimensional (3D) model 52 of the same building. As can be seen, the lack of accurate registration of the image source location to the geographic reference of the 3D model causes misalignment between the images 50 and the model 52.